White City (and other amusement / fun parks)

[References: [Letter 6 (Los Angeles) and letter 13 (London).]

The White City Harry is referring to [in letter 6 (Los Angeles)] is probably the World War I amusement park located near Rushcutter's Bay in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs.

The park appears to have been a bit shoddy (a chicken wire and plaster of paris affair) but included rides, high wire artists, brass bands and, of course, side shows.

It was short lived (3 summers), and was apparently destroyed by fire (or at least severely damaged) in 1917 after being hit by lightning. (The carousel can still be found in Australia at Melbourne's Luna Park.)

2 years prior to Harry's trip, White City had become the home of the NSW Lawn Tennis Association, so perhaps Harry was talking about one of the many other "White Cities" scattered around the world in the 1900s-1920s.

Other 'White City' amusement parks of that era included: Manchester, Vancouver , Chicago (Illinois - closed 1953 but very much scaled down after 1934), Cleveland (Ohio - closed 1907), Near Denver (Colorado - closed 1910), Bellingham (Washington - closed 1919?), others?, (London does not appear to have had a White City amusement park - just the stadium used for the 1908 Olympics - still in use in 1924 - converted to greyhound racing by 1927).

There is another reference to White City [in letter 13 (London)] to do with sporting prowess, but perhaps in that reference he is talking about side show skills rather than tennis?